You are browsing the archive for 2010 November.

Here are a few interesting cartooning links to start your week. First, PCOer Martin Rowson, cartoon above, writes in today’s Guardian about the strange place that cartoonists occupy in the British media, and their love-hate relationship with editors: Cartoonists in the twilight zone

But it’s all love from one former editor, David Yelland of The Sun, who calls cartoonists “unsung heroes” in a discussion about the Ink and the Bottle exhibition on the Radio 4 Today programme, with James Naughtie and the cartoon collector Brian Sibley: Listen to it here

And finally, alongside its huge Illustrators 2010 show, the Chris Beetles Gallery in London has a new exhibition opening tomorrow (November 30) all about Dan Dare. It ties in with a new book which tells the story of how Frank Hampson created the strip: Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future

An exhibition that is sure to bring some warmth and cheer to the winter opens at the Cartoon Museum in London on Wednesday 24 November.

Ink and the Bottle is billed as “a merry exhibition on the pleasures and perils of the ‘demon drink’ starting with a swig of gin from Hogarth and Cruikshank”. We move on to Gillray, Donald McGill, Heath Robinson and Giles before downing “a heady cocktail of contemporary cartoons”.
That includes a generous measure of PCO members, including Steve Bell, Andrew Birch, right, Clive Collins, Neil Dishington, Denis Dowland, Pete Dredge, Roger Penwill, Ken Pyne, Royston Robertson, Bill Stott and Mike Turner.

The annual Illustrators show opens at the Chris Beetles Gallery in St James’s, London, this weekend, and runs until January 8.

The Illustrators 2010 showcases many of Britain’s best loved and most respected illustrators and cartoonists from the past two centuries.

Contemporary cartooning is represented by Mike Williams, above, Jonathan Cusick, below, and Ed McLachlan, all members of the PCO, which runs the Bloghorn, alongside Peter Brookes of The Times and Matt of the Daily Telegraph.
The Grand Weekend Opening is November 20 and 21, 10am-5pm.

Other highlights include work by John Tenniel, old and new drawings by Ronald Searle, plus Quentin Blake, H. M. Bateman, David Levine, Arthur Rackham, William Heath Robinson, E. H. Shepard and Norman Thelwell, among many others. There are more than 60 cartoonists and illustrators in total.

A 288-page catalogue with more than 500 full-colour images and accompanying essays is available from the gallery for £20 + p&p (£4 UK, £7 Europe, £14 rest of the world).

Thought Bubble, the Leeds Sequential Art Festival, returns this weekend. As in previous years (2008, 2009) there will be the usual mix of workshops, talks and exhibitions, including a one-day Comic Convention.

The Festival runs from Thursday 18 November to Sunday 21 November at various locations around Leeds (see here for the full programme), with the convention being held on the Saturday at Saviles Hall from 10am to 5pm, tickets £10 and the under 12s get in free.

Tony has got together with a poet and a musician to organise a charity gig in aid of the wild tiger. Known as the Roar Collective, they have put together an evening of stand-up poetry, music and cartoons to be held on Monday 29 November at the Screen on the Green in Islington, London.

They have also created a promotional video, above, in the style of Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues, featuring Tony’s cartoons. Proceeds from the gig will go to the EIA (Environmental Investigation Agency) which campaigns against the illegal trade in wildlife and the destruction of the natural environment.

Tony told the Bloghorn: “Ive been involved with the EIA for many years and thought it would be a good idea to organise a Save the Tiger gig for them, as this beautiful creature is close to extinction.

“With poet Dan Cockrill and musician Sean Taylor we found a venue and asked our poet and musician friends to get involved. Dan and I worked on a poem with cartoons and Sean provided the music. We’ll be performing it on the night.”

The wild tiger is close to extinction. The population has fallen from more than 100,000 a hundred years ago, to little over 3,000 today. Debbie Banks from the EIA said: “Saving the wild tiger is not rocket science. Populations can recover if given protection from poachers. Ending the tiger trade is good for tigers and good for other Asian big cats.”

The gig will feature several acts, including the poet John Hegley and the Mercury Prize-nominated jazz group Polar Bear. Tickets cost £15 and can be bought via justgiving.com/roarcollective

On Sunday, the winner of the fourth Cape/Observer Graphic Short Story prize was announced as Stephen Collins. His story – In Room 208 – won him £1,000 and a full reprint of the tale in the Observer newspaper.

The stories of a company man have been in continuous publication since they first appeared in the Aberdeen Press and Journal on the 18th September 1961 and happily this amazing achievement been included in the latest Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running cartoon strip by a single author.

Tim created a dragon called “Scrum”, covered in rugby players, above left, and Ger painted “Shipley”, based on the city’s maritime history, and “Rodney”, above right, which was sponsored by Newport Gwent Dragons rugby team.Tim works on Scrum, as Ger paints Shipley

Ger told the Bloghorn that all the dragons sold, raising a healthy £92,250: “My rugby one went for £1,900 and the ship design went for £1,300. Tim’s Scrum sold for £1,500.”

The biggest sellers were the Wooden Dragon, which went for £8,000, and Flagon Dragon, a Ryder Cup-themed one with Colin Montgomerie’s signature, which raised £6,100.

The latest issue of Foghorn, the cartoon magazine of the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation is published. Featuring a cover drawing by the PCO’s Alexander Matthews, the magazine is available to subscribers for the recession-busting price of £20 for six full colour issues – all delivered to your door.

What’s inside?

Mind how you go – Clive Collins delves into some deep wartime secretsNathan Ariss tells some thespian tales of Mason Ayres
And the secrets arts of caricature are revealed by Adrian TealBill Stott delivers the gory details of Bloodsports in the Foghorn guide to…
And you’ll find a full page of Clive Goddard cartoons!

Plus…

…all the regular features – Buildings in the Fog, The Critic, The Potting Shed, Andy Davey‘s ‘Foggy’ strip and many more random acts of humour crammed in wherever we could find room.

You can read older issues of Foghorn online here, right up to our most recent issue.

After being asked to draw Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington on GMTV while they were being interviewed, it struck me as a great idea for a short interview series whilst at the same time putting cartoons into the public consciousness.

We’re initially looking at it as a web project to promote all our individual talents but if a TV producer likes the idea we won’t be reluctant to discuss possibilities.

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